By KPC Reporter
The High Court of Kenya has awarded Nyamira Senator Okoingo Mogeni and his wife, Justice Jacqueline Mogeni, KSh 6.5 million in damages following a defamatory publication by Nation Media Group Limited.
Justice Janet Mulwa delivered the ruling on September 25 in Civil Suit E192 of 2022, condemning a November 2021 Sunday Nation article titled “Lawmaker pushes wife’s hiring as judge.”
The piece alleged that Senator Mogeni, then chair of the Senate’s Justice and Legal Affairs Committee, improperly influenced his wife’s judicial appointment by providing her advance access to interview questions and coaching her—purportedly to create a “cabal of friendly judges in Nairobi for both commercial and political purposes.”
The couple, who have served in public office for over two decades, testified that the claims were false, malicious, and damaging to their reputations.
Senator Mogeni, a Senior Counsel, recounted the personal toll: “I received several telephone calls from persons in shock and disappointed by the shameful article.”
Justice Mogeni was appointed to the Environment and Land Court in 2021 after serving as CEO of the Council of Governors.
She said that “The article meant to convey to the general public that I was not appointed as judge on merit but rather through influence of my husband.”
Justice Mulwa found the publication to be “reckless and malicious,” stressing that media freedom does not extend to unverified and harmful allegations.
“The impugned article falsely imputed against the Plaintiffs serious and criminal conduct that ordinarily would invite penal sanctions, all without first verifying or justifying the facts,” she stated.
The court awarded KSh 5 million in general damages to Senator Mogeni, KSh 500,000 to Judge Mogeni, and KSh 1 million in exemplary damages jointly, with interest and costs.
It also issued a permanent injunction against further defamatory statements and ordered Nation Media to publish an unqualified apology with equal prominence.
The suit against editor Mutuma Mathiu was dismissed.
Nation Media Group has yet to issue a public response.